INVESTMENT
Lack of demand stifles job creation in manufacturing
Sunita Menon: The big question is if SA companies are investing, where are the jobs?
As big business sets out to prove it’s not on an investment strike, there’s a burning question related to job creation: if SA companies are in fact investing, where are the jobs? Business Leadership South Africa’s (BLSA’s) recent report, which sets out to dispel notions of an investment strike, shows that 57 of the organisation’s 77 members are among the biggest job creators in SA. According to the report, the median employment level of BLSA members in 2016 came to 10,376. The largest employer had 110,500 people. The direct effect on total employment was 1.29-million people, while indirect effects implied that an additional 2-million people were employed in 2016 — an increase of 18,833 jobs from 2015. The largest losses in employment were in mining and construction companies, mainly due to the sales of operations. But despite statistics that impress and evidence of investment, job creation remains elusive. While business seeks to prove that investment continues to flow in, job creat...
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